Living Life

The first lesson that I have learned this semester came while I was having dinner at a neighbors house after spending the evening swimming with some of my friends.  As we were sitting at the dinner table, Gary, from Belgium, talked about some of the many places he has traveled to throughout his lifetime.  I was very excited to hear about Gary's travels to Rwanda, until he said that he was in Rwanda in 1994.  Gary was vacationing in Rwanda when the Rwandan Genocide began.  My heart stopped as he began to explain his experience during the beginning of the genocide.

Gary was staying with some relatives in Rwanda while his mother was up in the mountains gorilla trekking.  One evening, while Gary was with his relatives, gunshots were fired in the home.  Gary explained that he spent the next two days hiding in the center of the home, away from windows and doors, where the family passed the time by watching movies.  Eventually, the militia came to take his family to safety.

Meanwhile, his mother was up in the mountains when the genocide broke out, unaware that her children had been hiding in the midst of a massacre.  When she finally heard the news of the genocide, she immediately tried to flee the country.  His mother made it to a facility run by three nuns where she was able to contact her family.  Gary explained that during that time, Belgians were not well liked by the Rwandan people, so his mother was very worried about finding a way out of the country.  She was not sure if she would be safer to stay at with the nuns or to try and cross the border.  With her Belgian passport hidden in her shoe, Gary's mother made it across the border with a fake Dutch passport and a large bill to bride the border patrol.  Her mother found out later that the nuns who helped her were victims of the horrific genocide.

I can only image the feelings that Gary's mother felt as she was in the mountains wondering if her children were safe and if she would survive.  Gary said that after living through that nightmare, his mother lives every day as if it is her last.  I am very blessed to have had a chance to hear Gary's story, especially so early on in my journey.  Gary's story has taught me to make the most out of each day of my travels and that each day is a gift where I am given chance to grow and learn.

The first week of staging was a very busy and eventful week.  Our days begin at 8 as the cast arrives and catches up with one another.  Each morning we have an all-cast meeting at 8:30 to go over the events of the day and any announcements.  The rest of the day consists of either vocal rehearsals, cast movement rehearsals, or education workshops.  During rehearsals, we have been learning the music and dances to some of the new songs in our show called Voices.

The second day of staging was devoted to auditions for dancing, singing, and speaking parts of the show.  After the first round of auditions, students are called back and asked to work on specific dances or songs for further auditions.  Throughout the rest of staging, students will continue to work on their specific dances and songs until eventually the final students are selected to perform the solos and dances for the show.

This week I was asked to learn several dances and a couple songs for the show.  In order to learn the dances we have dance workshops.  Friday, I danced in an 80's medley workshop and a hiphop dance workshop for two hours each.  It was an extremely exhausting yet fun day.  In addition to dance workshops, and cast movement rehearsals, because the Up with People program is intense and fast-paced, several times a week we have workout sessions.  This week we had a 90 minute Zumba dance party, which the entire cast loved.  

Our days end with a wrap-up meeting at 5:15 and we arrive home at 6 ready for dinner.  The rest of the evening I spend with Bruce, Linda, and my host sisters Marloes and Linda.  Several nights this week Marloes, Linda, and I went on a walk to visit some of my other cast mates in the neighborhood.  We walked to a lake down the street to skip rocks and get to know each other.

My first week was a blast and I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the coming weeks!

People: You Meet Them Wherever You Go

I recently graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies and Philosophy.  One thing that I have discovered about myself through my studies of communication is that I have a passion for learning about people and cultures.  From my semester abroad in Estonia and my international internship in Tanzania, I have discovered a love for traveling to explore cultures and the people.  

Having two parents and a brother that traveled in Up with People, I grew up learning the lessons and values of the organization.  I always knew I would travel in Up with People one day, but it was not until my senior year of college that I finally realized that I really wanted to be a part of an organization where I can learn about people and cultures while giving back to the communities and the people I meet.   

Because I have a desire for learning about people and cultures, I want to dedicate my blog to sharing the lessons that I learn from the people I meet along my journey.  For the next six months I will travel to Massachusetts, Taiwan, the Philippines, and throughout Mexico.  Additionally, I will be traveling with 98 students from 19 countries around the world.  I think there is something to be learned from each person that I am fortunate enough to meet, and I look forward to the lessons that lay ahead.

My journey began on Friday in Denver, Colorado where I met the 98 students I will be traveling with for the next six months.  After checking in at 2:00pm, I spent the next six hours meeting my new international family.  I met students of all ages from 17-29 and students from countries from Europe, Asia, North America, and South America.  After an afternoon of meeting my cast mates, we had dinner  together and got ready to meet our host families that we will be living with for the next five weeks.  I am fortunate to be staying with our good family friends that traveled with my parents- Bruce and Linda Erley.  We were given a host code that we use to help us find our host families.  Bruce and Linda made a giant poster with a clue to my host code.  The rest of the evening was spent catching up with Bruce and Linda as well as catching up on sleep after an exciting and very eventful day.

Saturday was a host family day, which meant we got to spend the entire day with our host families.  Linda took me, along with my two host-sisters Marloes from the Netherlands and Linda from Taiwan, to the Cherry Creek Art Festival in downtown Denver.  We met my parents and brother at the art festival and spent the afternoon walking around the festival looking at photography, sculptures, paintings, and ceramics.   

Sunday morning Linda made Marloes, Linda, and me a delicious pancake brunch before the opening session of Up with People Cast B 2012.  As we all arrived at our staging facilities, I could see the excitement and anticipation in all of my cast mates.  During the opening session, the current Up with People staff performs some of the songs and dances that we will be learning during staging and performing on the road.  This semester, I am traveling in a cast that will be performing a brand new show.  Our new show Voices, is the first original show for many many years.  Several times throughout the show, my cast mates and I all stood up and cheered for our staff as they performed.

After opening session, we all had a potluck and talked about how excited we are for the coming weeks of staging.